The first time I came to Dubai in 1993. It was a completely different city than now. It was a completely different country. Fourteen years old. Such a short period for which hardly anything would have changed there, at home. My parents still live in a house that was built fifty years ago, and the road to this house was last repaired thirty years ago. Fourteen years old…
The UAE has not just changed over the years. They seemed to be born again. And this process continues uninterruptedly. People coming to Dubai for the first time today have no idea that another five, ten, fifteen years ago there were other streets and other hotels, and other people lived. I remember this. And you? I’ll try to recall everything that was then, and share with you a piece of that old Dubai ...
I remember the time when the best club was Lodge (“Lodge”), when the Cyclone club (“Cyclone”) was divided into a rock club and a disco, when in Dubai there were no intersections at road junctions, but there were only roundabouts. The building of the Dubai telecommunications monopolist, Etisalat, was just under construction, and the ball on its top was shown to tourists as a local attraction, and the Coca-Cola trading post was nearby. There were no problems with parking at Nasser Square, and the most famous point of this shopping area was the Golden Fork restaurant ("Golden Fork"), which probably was not missed by any tourists.
I remember the days when there was only one of the radio stations - 92 FM. And there, after nine in the evening, slow classical music played. Deira's most famous nightclubs were in the Casablanca Hotel (Casablanca), and the best disco was Garage. Parking was free, the popular local newspaper Gulf News (Gulf News) cost 50 fils, a Deira taxi cost 5 dirhams, and probably 15 could go around half the world.
Sharjah seemed like a different state.
Gasoline was in increasing order: first 2.30, then 2.65, and finally 2.95 dirhams per gallon. The popular Toyota Corolla cost 27 thousand emirate money. The interest on the loan for the car was not less than 7.5% per annum. The Bar Dubai area (except for the old one) was almost deserted, and behind the BurJuman shopping center, the sands blew.
A two-bedroom apartment in the prestigious Bar Dubai area cost 23-32 thousand dirhams a year. The most expensive apartment near the building of the Dubai World Trade Center at the beginning of Sheikh Zayed Highway is 65-75 thousand. A villa on the coastal Jumeirah could be rented for 45-75 thousand. There were no such intricate interchanges on the Garhud bridge - there was only one lane with a traffic light. And a million (no less) Russian tourists roamed the streets.
My favorite activity on Fridays was a trip to the Chicago Beach Hotel (Chicago Beach). Favorite and very memorable place. And then it was blown up and a new one was built - the famous Jumeirah Beach Hotel.
The road to Abu Dhabi was two lines and took 2 hours ...
The most distant hotel along the Sheikh Zayed Highway was Dubai Park Hotel; the Hard Rock Café was not there then. There was no Twin Towers shopping center on the embankment of the Dubai Lagoon, but a long house in which there was a lovely Mozart cafe ...
Jumeirah was like Gelendzhik for its leisurelyness and the feeling of a quiet provincial resort.
And yet - in 1995, the Internet appeared in Dubai, which is very expensive. And the connection cost crazy money. Monthly bills reached 5,000 dirhams. But everyone had pagers, but not for long - the “cell phones” turned out to be more convenient. But, they really were at EVERYONE!
The first phone cards (for pay phones) were very thin, and the device punched holes in them - every minute. But it was nice to call home in one second. From here!
Arriving in the Emirates, we firmly believed that this was a fabulous country of crystal-clear honest people, but already in 1994 we stopped leaving the doors of the apartments open because we were robbed right at night while we were sleeping, friends of the house guard.
Police in Dubai did not stop drunken tourists (after returning from nightclubs), but escorted them to hotels so that they were miserable, God forbid, not hurt.
Fly Dolphin (“Fly Dolphin”) issued 6-8 cargo planes on the mountain DAY (!) To Sochi and Moscow. And from every "fragrant" Deirovskaya shop our tourists rushed into the trail: "Come in, Natasha!"
Arriving at home for a week, after a month of living here, I caught myself thinking, watching our post-Soviet movement, that I feel like a spectator of someone else's performance ... And I was inexorably and eagerly pulled back to my native Dubai ...
And returning here, for another whole year I was thrilled with a feeling of incomprehensible happiness! I'm here again ! And then that feeling waned. But for a long time I had dreams that, having arrived home, something prevents me from returning to the Emirates - and it was a real nightmare.
The most visited shopping center was, of course, Al Ghurair Center (Al Gureyr Center). And Sitika (Deira City Center) was not there. And gold cost 34 dirhams per gram. The coolest movie theater was Al Nasr Cinema ("Al Nasr Cinema"), which is next to the "Lodge" and "Cyclone". Our dance groups worked in every night eatery, and girls-dancers were given flower wreaths, which waitresses sold, walking between tables. And if you bought such a wreath, then for several minutes the girl danced exclusively for you.
In those days, it was still possible to work on a “visit visa” - OFFICIALLY.
Airport Hotel ("Airport Hotel") was small and one-story, and inside was the coziest beer hall of the city - Biggles ("Beagles"). In Ajman, there was an English club on the beach, with slot machines and beer-filled tables. And the noisiest was the disco in the old Hyatt Regency Hotel (Hyatt Regency). And for knowledgeable people went to the industrial zone of the Sharjah seaport. The place was unique in that it was the only place where absolutely broken roads led! Just like in the homeland.
There was no lighting on the Dubai-Al Ain highway, and at night I had to drive through the reflectors - an amazing sight: a Christmas tree on the asphalt. I also remember that "female flights" flew from Simferopol - almost the only shuttle ladies who flew to the Emirates for toys. They brought with them a thousand dollars or two. They bought the cheapest toys, and then in the Crimea they made a “fivefold climb”.
And also, in the years 1996-1998, the so-called “carriers” worked on Al Wahda Road, in Sharjah. These are our fellow citizens, who led Russian tourists who did not speak English, to the shops where their commissions were already agreed in advance with the owners. Drove everywhere: electronics, furniture, cars. At the Sharjah airport, tourists exited through the corridor from meeting, distributing booklets and business cards. And the first shuttles handed over a string of bags of cargo directly through the scales of the passenger hall of the airport.
I recall all this and seem to fall into the past. It is completely different, not much reminiscent of Dubai today. Then I knew all the hotels and restaurants with discos. And now it’s almost impossible. Then there were two radio stations, now there are dozens, if not a hundred. If fifteen years ago, Dubai was like a green oasis among the sands, today it is already a stone jungle. Alas!
I wonder what will be here in another fifteen years? Probably, the inhabitants of the Emirates of that time will remember the present days in the same way, as I just remembered those years, so dear to my memory. Who knows…
/ DeFour /
Dubai today
- Club Cyclone ("Cyclone") is closed. May not be forever.
- The second Etisalat building with a roof "ball" was built.
- The Coca-Cola factory moved to Sheikh Zayed Highway.
- To find parking in Nasser Square, you need to spend at least an hour.
- Golden Fork Restaurant is still alive, but there is no trace of its former popularity.
- The Gulf News newspaper costs 2 dirhams, and on Fridays - 3 (due to the application).
- Taxi "around the city" - from 10 to 60 dirhams and above.
- A gallon of gas costs 5 dirhams.
- New Toyota Corolla - 60,000 dirhams.
- Rent a two-bedroom apartment in Bar Dubai - 120 thousand per year.
- The Garhoud Bridge has been paid since July 1, 2007, and offers seven lanes in each direction.
- Dubai-Abu Dhabi highway - at least seven lanes in each direction.
- Thanks to WiMAX technology, the Internet is available even in the desert.
- There are no shuttles, and rare cargoes arrive from Dubai to Moscow in 6 months.
- The largest shopping center is Mall of the Emirates, on the way Mall of Arabia.
- Gold “in the product” costs 55 dirhams per gram.
- The Biggles bar at the newly rebuilt Millennium Airport Hotel is still delighting visitors.
- The most acidic disco is Trilogy at Madinat Jumeirah.
- Barkers still crowd on Nasser Square. Offers are not new: "fur coats, teeth, electronics."
- In Dubai, the metro and Palm Islands are being built, and life goes forward by leaps and bounds ...
